Chronicles of Nikhil Baliga

Swami Gulagulaananda asked: " Where would you stand to save your life? " Here is a simple problem. Go ahead and try to solve it... In an island are stranded 100 people and you are one among them. You were captured by tribals, who say that only one among the 100 can survive. And here is the condition. One of you is given an axe. And he has to hack and kill the guy to his right, and pass the axe to the guy after him. And the cycle continues... So, if the people were numbered 1, 2, 3.... 100, then 1 kills 2, and gives to 3. 3 kills 4 and gives it to 5 and so on. The 99th guy kills 100th guy and passes it back to 1, who kills number 3 and so on. The question is, if you were in that group, where would you stand to be the last man standing? And the solution is... *Spoiler Alert* There are 3 ways of solving this. Method I One, is by finding a pattern. Do it for groups of 1, 2, 3 and so on... say till 10. If the group had 1 guy, survivor = 1 If the group had 2 guys,

Swami Gulagulaananda said: " To think such great people exist in this day and age... I must really salute you, Sir " It was later than usual when he got up. The cold outside had made him feel so comfortable under the blanket he had snuggled and he hadn't even realised he had passed the time he used to wake up normally. He woke up with a start and looked at the clock. “ Darn it! ” he cursed, as he set about his morning routine. As he was locking the door of his hut, his neighhbour's wife called out to him. “ Kishan bhaiya, how come you are still here at this time? Isn't it later than your usual time? ”. Kishan looked at her with a wan smile as he covered his ears with the orange cloth that he had around his neck. “ You know how the cold is, sister. Makes me feel so lazy. Ok, I am off now. Have a great day ”. A few minutes later, he had his neatly organised push cart fully set up in front of the mosque. As he was busy heating the milk with his kerosene s

Swami Nikhilaananda said: " Some times people don't even understand that they are already inside the Matrix :-/  " The following post has been taken from here . Go ahead and read this with an open mind. Beware of Valentine's Day - A cultural conversion of Hindus ! Tweet HJS call youth to oust 'Valentine's Day'         Focussing their attention on only materialistic development while dreaming about making Bharat a 'Super Power', the so called Secular rulers have completely neglected our culture. As a result of this, youth of this country is keen on following the western culture like 'Valentine's Day' forgetting great Bharatiya culture. Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) is calling upon the youth to oust Western 'Valentine's Day' which ruins their morality and be proud of their own mother tongue, Nation and Dharma. This call is given by HJS in order to dissuade the youth from celebrating the 'Valentine&#

Baba Gyani Triviani said: " Many times, if you can't think of a solution to a problem in one direction, think of it from another angle " The Rashtrakutas were a great dynasty that ruled over South India for a while. Among their achievements and feats, the greatest that most people remember and admire in awe in today, is their architecture at Ellora and other places. The most prominent and notable temple is the Kailasanatha temple. I remember this story that I had read as a child, about the Rashtrakutas that I would like to share today. The greatness of the Kailasanatha temple and a whole lot of temples around that area is that... Well, I would have told you right now, but it is going to become a spolier. So read on :-) The great Rashtrakuta king Krishna I and his mother were one day walking in Ellora when she turned to her son and said - " You had promised me that you would build a great temple in dedication to Lord Shiva. And I am very disappointed in you, f

Swami Gulagulaananda said: "" I came across a very nice article today. It's a short story, but very nice. Go ahead and read it. We all love Sardar jokes. But do you know that Sikhs are one of the hardest working, prosperous and diversified communities in the world!  My friend told me about the following incident which I wish to share with you. It has had a deep impact on my thinking.  During the last vacation, a few friends came to Delhi . They rented a taxi for local sight-seeing. The driver was an old Sardar and boys being boys, these pals began cracking Sardarji jokes, just to tease the old man. But to their surprise, the fellow remained unperturbed..  At the end of the sight-seeing, they paid the cab hire charges. The Sardar returned the change, but he gave each one of them one rupee extra and said,''Sons, since morning you have been telling Sardarji jokes. I listened to them all and let me tell you, some of them were in bad taste. Still, I don

Swami Gulagulaananda said: " Krishna goes on to describe the soul as that which cannot be cut by weapons, that which cannot be burnt, made wet or dried in the immortalised Shloka - nainam chindanti shastraaNi....... " The caste system in India is a weird issue - people don't understand what it is... And yet, they screw around with it a lot. I happened to attend a function recently, where the poojari  told what caste is in brief - he said, people were divided into four castes on the basis of the kind of work they used to do. But then, God Himself said that the four castes are Brahmins, who are like My face, Kshatriyas, who are like My shoulders/arms, Vaishyas who are like My thighs/legs and Sudras who are like My feet. A quick glance by pseudo secular people (read Congress) would result in saying - Aha! See? Brahmins are given the position of the head, while OBC/SC/ST people are merely feet.  But then he continued. He said, note that they are all part of God, and tha

Swami Gulagulaananda said: " One sees what one wants to see " This is a short story I had read as a child in school, I think it was in the then-popular magazine for kids, Gokulam. The story begins with Krishna and Arjuna having a conversation. Arjuna asks Lord Krishna why everyone thinks Yudhishtira is considered as great. Krishna takes Arjuna for a walk. He calls Duryodhana and then calls a random soldier. He then points the soldier out to Duryodhana and asks him to tell one hundred points about that man. Duryodhana says that the man was lazy, got his wife to do every thing for him, used to squander earnings, beat her occassionally, etc. He thanks Duryodana and a few minutes later asks Yudhishtira the same question. Yudhishtira looks at the man and says that the man was one who had helped out his friends and neighbours, was a loving father, never cheated on his wife, religious, etc. Thanking him, Krishna turns to Arjuna and says - " Did you see? It was the same pe

Swami Nikhilaananda said: " Just because you close your eyes and can't see anything, doesn't mean that there exists nothing around you " You can now read the story from the book - Swami G's Short Stories Buy now - Just $0.99 Other stories that you might want to read Just let go  - Story of a man stuck in a theatre with his wife, but he has a nagging feeling to leave, and knows that things will be horribly wrong.... unless he lets go The Medallion  - Starts off with a typical Bollywood story, the medallion has a Hollywood ending. A story about a boy with a copper medallion who loses his younger brother in a crowded railway station, and culminates with the twists of fate. My race against time  - A man describes the race against time... the constant running The girl who was a ghost before she died  - A freaky real life story (Other parts are linked at the bottom, so be sure to catch them all)

Swami Nikhilaananda said: " It is better to avoid unnecessary action, than battle unnecessary reaction " This is a story that I had read a very long time back. The story starts with a sage and his disciple deciding to take rest under a large tree in a village after having a long and tiresome journey. As they relax, they observe a shopkeeper in a nearby shop who had accidentally dipped his finger in a jar of honey idly rubbing it off against the wall of his shop. The sage remarks " That was a rather unnecessary action... " The disciple looks at the sage and gives a look of bewilderment - " What's wrong with it? " he asks. The sage doesn't reply, and insists on resting a little longer. As time passes, a swarm of flies gather around the honey. After some time, a lizard notices the flies and decides to have a nice meal. As the lizard is busy feeding on the flies, a beautiful brown cat arrives at the scene and decides to poke the lizard. While the